HL Deb 25 January 2005 vol 668 cc152-3WA
Lord Hanningfield

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many pupils in schools in England and Wales were (a) suspended, and (b) excluded for the use of;

  1. (i)heroin;
    2. WA 153
  2. (ii) cocaine;
  3. (iii) crack cocaine;
  4. (iv) amphetamines;
  5. (v) cannabis; and
  6. (vi) any other illegal substance in each of the last seven years. [HL803]

Lord Filkin

This information is not held centrally. We started to collect reasons for exclusions in relation to the summer term 2003 and these termly data collections are continuing. One category of reason for exclusion is involvement with drugs and alcohol, but this is not broken down by type of substance.

Due to concerns over the reliability of the first set of data, the full data on reasons for exclusion, including those that were drug and alcohol-related, were not published in the Experimental First Release (ESR 01/2004), a copy of which is in the Library. The next statistical first release on exclusions will be published in May 2005.

Our guidance states that a head teacher can exclude a pupil permanently for supplying an illegal drug and that the Secretary of State would not normally expect the governing body or an appeal panel to reinstate such a pupil. Illegal drugs have no place in schools and harm children's learning, health and behaviour. We have made clear that we support head teachers and governing bodies together with local partners, including the police, in their efforts to tackle illegal drugs in schools.